Tencent plans a self-driving, electric vehicle by 2020

An automotive venture supported by China’s tech giant Tencent is on the verge of launching an electric self-driving vehicle before 2020, thus entering an already crowded field currently dominated by US-based Tesla Motors. That’s what the chief executive of Tencent officially announced on Tuesday.

Future Mobility, supported by Tencent as well as Hon Hai Precision Industries appears to be one of a rapidly expanding field of China-backed ventures, willing to take on Tesla Motor Inc as green energy vehicle sales boom in this Asian country.

Though the venture actually seeks to manufacture premium vehicles such as Tesla, it’s going to try a different strategy from the US-based company, which started with relatively limited output, focusing on a single model at a time, as Carsten Breitfeld, CEO revealed in a recent interview.

Right from the beginning Tencent’s management is going to define the platform. Then they’re expected to define the production process to be their mass output. Representatives of the company disclosed that they are considering more than just one model. Sure, that’s a family of models.